CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

A lifelong sailor who led hull development at Pure Watercraft, an electric boating startup that has raised $170M+ in funding. He later consulted on R&D for hydrofoiling electric boats. Just prior to Vatn, he was an investor at Link Ventures and previously held investor roles with Lux Capital and Global Founders Capital. Nelson holds a BA and MBA from Columbia University.

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER

Experienced mechanical engineer and mariner who was the director of engineering at Koop for a decade. While there, he led a team of engineers and developed some of the most advanced hydrofoiling electric boats in the world and a variety of other projects, including submersibles. Geoff has a BS in ME from Montana State University.

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Freddie has been running boats and building complex parts his whole life, starting as a manufacturing technician at Placid Boatworks and a tug boat captain on Lake Placid. As the owner of Mills Composites for the past five years, he has led a team of engineers and technicians to build large and intricate composite parts using the latest manufacturing techniques. Freddie is a USCG licensed 100 ton captain.

HEAD OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Seasoned tech development program manager with experience in government projects focused on digital vision and virtual reality solutions. A former commander of a Special Forces Dive unit, Dan concurrently serves as Deputy Commander of a brigade headquarters in the National Guard. He holds a BS from the US Air Force Academy and a Masters in Military Doctrine and Strategic Management.

SENIOR GUIDANCE, NAVIGATION AND CONTROL ENGINEER

Mechanical Engineer with a broad range of experience in guidance, navigation, and controls; robotics; and manufacturing automation. He spent the last 4 years at Collins Aerospace developing algorithms and sustaining hardware for advanced EO/IR sensors. Alex recently graduated with a MS in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

ROBOTICS MECHANICAL ENGINEER

Budding robotics designer recently graduated from University of Illinois with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He has developed more than 30 distinct robotic systems throughout his stints in competitive robotics, at Tesla and Raytheon, and with the Coordinated Science Laboratory. Ethan’s independent research creating ASV’s and machine learning algorithms for water quality monitoring garnered him national recognition as both a Udall and Astronaut Scholar.

SYSTEMS ENGINEER

Systems engineer experienced in software and hardware development for autonomous systems. As a robotics engineer for PacMar Technologies, Steve has experience implementing sensor networks and machine learning based control algorithms for underwater, surface, and lunar systems. He graduated from Clemson University with an MS and BS in Mechanical Engineering.